Category: Kung Fu Philosophy

Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province, is only a 90 minute journey by high-speed train from Shanghai, and the city centre doesn’t feel a whole lot different. What is different, however, is the amount of culture and history surrounding the West Lake. Of particular interest to martial artists, as well as patriotic Chinese, is the tomb of General Yue Fei.

Yue Fei was a general in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1179). The Song Dynasty was a period of strong cultural developments but very weak military. The emperors were focused mostly on pursuing art and poetry, and neglected the defense of their borders. As a result, they were constantly plagued by raids from nomadic horseback peoples from the north. One such group, the Jurchen, grew to great strength and eventually sacked the capital of Kaifeng (in today’s Henan province), claiming it as their own and setting up the Jin Dynasty. The Song court fled south, and set up their new capital in Hangzhou. In fact, the Jurchen are the very same people who founded China’s last Dynasty, the Qing, after renaming themselves the Manchu hundreds of years later.

Yue Fei was a native of Henan province, and made it his lifelong ambition to retake his homeland from the northern Barbarians. At a young age he began his martial arts training by learning archery and the 18 weapons from legendary figure Zhou Tong. He later learnt and mastered the spear, which became his speciality from Cheng Guang. It was this spear technique that, according to legend, influenced him to create an empty hand fighting style, known as Xinyi-Liuhe Quan. This style was based on Liuhe (six harmonies), which in essence meant the body moving in unity, much as you would move wielding a spear. How much of this is fact, and how much is pure myth is pretty much impossible to ascertain. But what we can take from this, is that as many modern martial arts styles claim descendancy from his original technique, he was a figure worthy of martial artists admiration. I put this down to his efforts to fight the Jurchen, a notion which many creators of contemporary martial arts could empathise with, growing up under the Manchu rule where Han were considered second class citizens.

Yue Fei was eventually betrayed by a group of people, led by Qin Hui, and wrongly sentenced to death. In front of his grave you can see several bronze statues of these traitors, forever cursed to kneel in front in a gesture of begging forgiveness. It’s normal for Chinese visitors to the tomb to spit on the statues or wave their hands and curse them. Something which there are now signs up asking tourists not to engage in.

Yue Fei was post-humously pardoned, and this large temple and tomb was set up for him by a later emperor. Since that time, its been customary for both martial artists and patriotic Chinese to come to Hangzhou to pay their respects to the general, as did I on my recent trip to Hangzhou.

Far from an exhaustive list by any means, here are some of my personal top martial arts books. Keep checking back though, as I will add to the list over time. You can click on the titles to go over to Amazon to learn more about them. Also check out mylist of top books on China.

An excellently researched and refreshingly authentic book on the history of the Shaolin Temple and the development of Shaolin Kung Fu. This is probably the most important book a Chinese martial artist could have on their bookshelf.

Written by a Taiwanese Kung Fu Master, Adam Hsu, The Sword Polisher’s Record is a collection of short essays expounding various philosophical or cultural ideas behind Kung Fu. It is not a technique or style book, but captures the underlying spirit of martial arts. Highly recommended read.

You’ve no doubt read Bruce Lee’s Tao of Jeet Kune Do or The Tao of Gung Fu, but have you read the philosophy of one of the most influential figures in his early life? Wong Shun Leung was the top fighter at Ip Man’s school, and was somewhat of a mentor to Bruce Lee. In this book, the philosophy of Wong is discussed, through quotes and anecdotes, and as such I believe is just as important a read as Bruce Lee’s material – and not just for Wing Chun guys.

A must read for anyone coming over to China to train Kung Fu! While things have changed in China over the last twenty years, this book will really get you prepared for the craziness that is China! And its not even only for martial artists; I feel like this book should be on any China enthusiasts list. The writer was one of the first foreigners to train at Shaolin Temple in the early nineties, and his accounts of rural China at that time are both fascinating and hilarious.

Slightly different from the others on this list, this is technically a tutorial book. However, the reason I like it is for the excellent translation of old Xingyi manuscripts that makes up the first part of the book. It’s very rare to have access to this kind of material, even in Chinese let alone English! The history section is also one of the most complete on Xingyi that I have read.

Wing Chun is much richer than just the Ip Man lineage, and this book is the only one that goes into detail explaining all the major lineages of Wing Chun, many of which you have never heard of, and are very different to the typical stuff you see in the west. If you like Sifu Sergio’s Youtube channel, then you will love this book.

The only book I really know of which discusses the history of martial arts right from the beginning. But this is no myths of bearded immortals, it goes into actual documented history of ancient Chinese military techniques, and how martial ars evolved over time.

Unlike most other self defense books that focus on technique, Roy Miller’s book is about the psychology of violence. Drawing from a lifetimes experience working in corrections facilities, Roy explains the mindset of a predator and how to deal with real world situations. I must read for any martial artist regardless of style.

One of China’s “Four Great Classic Novels”, the Water Margin is focused on the Jianghu, or martial world, of the Song Dynasty. Much of the content of this great novel has become core to the folklore of contemporary Chinese martial arts. Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West are two others that impacted the folklore.